Essential J.S. Bach

I finally reached some weird evolutionary stage as a classical listener whereby all roads inevitably lead back to the great baroque masters. But I'm like a child to this. So far I discovered J.S Bach's best works are his 6 Brandenburg concertos, his fugal organ music and the St Matthew passion (still early days but I'm already thinking it might be the pinnacle of music full stop).

I have the overtures suites 1-4 performed by Cologne Chamber Orchestra under Helmut Müller-Brühl. Baroque could very well have been the peak era for classical music. By implication, this would be the golden age of music composition in world history, punctuated by Mozart and culminating in Beethoven.

The instrumentation alternates between a small chamber (period) string ensemble, sometimes with continuo, and solo harpsichord. Although solo keyboard is probably the intended instrumentation, the performance is timeless.

If you plan to obtain a hard copy of this performance, I recommend this version, if you don't mind used CD's. The performance of A Musical Offering is also exceptional.

The instrumentation alternates between a small chamber (period) string ensemble, sometimes with continuo, and solo harpsichord. Although solo keyboard is probably the intended instrumentation, the performance is timeless.

If you plan to obtain a hard copy of this performance, I recommend this version, if you don't mind used CD's. The performance of A Musical Offering is also exceptional.

Many thanks, I ordered this from amazon and it is an excellent recording. I am now trying to download the Brandenburg concertos played by Musica Antiqua Köln found here, as I'm currently only familiar with the Il Giardino Armonico rendition.

I also discovered what looks to be an interesting documentary about Bach, The Art of Fugue, Helmut Walcha and his pupil George Ritchie who later gives a lecture including practical examples from the work. Once again there is no full upload to be found as yet.